CHAPTER 12: INCISIVE TANGMEN

The Tangmen master went to join the sect all by himself and Wu Zewen, who was left behind, naturally had to do the task by himself. Fortunately, except for the light steps challenge, all other tasks in the Novice Town weren’t difficult and it was easy for Wu Zewen to quickly rise to Level 15. He found a sect guide and teleported immediately to the Five Poisons Sect.

A simple assessment of the sect was no match for Xueba’s brain and after successfully passing, he paid his respects to the head to join the Five Poisons Sect. Almost immediately, the logo for the Five Poisons Sect appeared on top of his character. He was given three sets of the default equipment for the sect, each from different schools which could be placed separately on the three tabs on the equipment area. With one click, he could immediately change his equipment, which was very convenient for Wu Zewen.

As soon as he successfully joined the sect, a chat channel labeled “sect” appeared in the lower-left corner.

Wu Zewen clicked the chat and saw a lot of people on the channel. Novices, such as himself, were asking loudly on the chat: “Senior brothers, senior sisters, I am a new member of the sect, which of the three schools is the best?”

Someone replied: “Sister, I recommend playing with the Mending Heaven School. The team nanny* is very popular, especially in the later stage. If you are a man, then just pick whatever you want.”

* healer/wet nurse

“The Long Whip School is very strong in the early stages while the Poisonous Insect School is only difficult to deal with when their pet skills are fully learned.”

“The weapon of the Long Whip School is the whip and its attack distance stretches far. It’s actually very enjoyable to throw people around using a whip.”

“I think the people from Poisonous Insect School are even more powerful. Every pet has its own crowd control* skill and even their damage is very high.”

* ability to partially or completely disable one or more players

“Bullshit! The long whip is obviously more powerful. If you don’t know how to play with the insects, you’re worse than trash.”

“You’re the fucking trash!”

Seeing the sect members quarrel, Wu Zewen merely glanced at the channel and calmly turned it off.

In fact, no one was right or wrong. Arguments were a common characteristic in games and couldn’t be helped, especially with three different schools in one sect.

Wu Zewen heard Li Xiang describe it before but this was the first time he saw it with his own eyes. Stubborn as a mule and no matter what anyone said, he didn’t hesitate to choose the Poisonous Insect School.

He was given the task to “make a contract”: to find a suitable Gu beast in their garden and make a blood contract with it.

Following the instructions, Wu Zewen arrived at the back mountain of the sect. The Gu Garden was very large and several players of the Five Poisons Sect hopped back and forth trying to catch their own beasts. The only Level-15 Beast in the area were bouncing toads and with numerous players trying to catch them, the entire place looked lively.

With the opening of the new district came the swarm of people and players who choose Five Poisons out of all eight sects. Wu Zewen carefully observed his surroundings for a moment and found a toad hidden in the brush* under the tree in the corner. It will definitely refresh again after a moment.

* visuals below

(Image: Picture)

Wu Zewen calculated the time, walked to the tree, and waited. Just as he expected, a strong poisonous toad appeared in front of him with a resounding croak. The poisonous dark green and fat toad lay on the ground as its two big eyes stared at Zewen.

…it’s you*.

* informal you

Wu Zewen immediately clicked on select. Just as he was about to release skills to capture the toad, a “ding dong” sound echoed in his ears and a tiny purple letter appeared on the chat channel in the lower-left corner simultaneously.

Immortal: “Have you finished the light work challenge?”

The sudden message distracted Wu Zewen making a girl quickly bewitch the toad he had his eyes on.

Wu Zewen: “…”

There were too many players in the Gu Garden and too little beast to subdue. The situation was akin to many monks and not much gruel* and all the Five Poison Sect players fought to grab the Gu beasts resulting in carnage. Wu Zewen finally waited for one but was robbed…

* demand exceeds supply/not enough supply

Wu Zewen had no choice but to wait. He replied to the private chat: It’s done.

Immortal: “Are you doing the main task for the Five Poisons?”

Misty Swamp: “Yeah.”

Immortal: “Why chose this as a name? Didn’t you know that “Misty Swamp” is a level 70 team instance?”

Misty Swamp: I know.

Immortal: “When you reach level 70, the world channel would be full of ‘organizing a group to fight Misty Swamp’ ‘a great master has come to fight Misty Swamp’ ‘nanny has come to fight in Misty Swamp’ Don’t you feel pressure being called Misty Swamp?”

Misty Swamp: “…”

Immortal: “In the future, people will form groups to attack you everyday : )”

A row of smiling expressions was added after the message, which seemed to be taking joy in calamity and delight in disaster.*

* to rejoice in other people's misfortune/schadenfreude

Misty Swamp: “…”

Ignoring his provocation, Wu Zewen adjusted his glasses and stared at the toad’s refresh point under the tree conscientiously.

A couple of players were also waiting around. After a while, the toad refreshed with a loud croak and Wu Zewen immediately clicked on his mouse to select it. Just as he was about to throw skills to capture the toad, the familiar sound of a private message rang in his ears.

Immortal: “Are you still with me?”

Immortal: “Why aren’t you paying attention to me?”

Immortal: “You’re not angry, are you?”

Another player saw the toad refreshed, rush out, and snatched the toad right in front of him!

Wu Zewen: “………………”

Immortal: “Still there?”

—Misty Swamp added [Immortal] to the blocked list.

Liu Chuan: “………………”

Unexpectedly, this younger sister dared to block me!

Puzzled, Liu Chuan stared at his screen—I haven’t done anything to let you down, right? Little Spinning Top* isn’t fond of talking and answered him monosyllabically so Liu Chuan kept on asking question after question just like how he got along with Wu Zewen.

* steady/able to keep calm/rational

Unexpectedly, Wu Zewen was annoyed by him and blocked him directly.

Liu Chuan had tears streaming down his cheeks.

After playing the game for so many years, whether as the president of the Huaxia guild in the first district or the first season captain of the Huaxia team, the famous Chuan Shen* was a highly respected god-level player no matter where he went. There wouldn’t be enough time to see how many people would line up to worship, kneel, and ask to be his friend. But today, he was actually blocked… by a novice…?

* God; what top-level players are called

This is the first time he has enjoyed the treatment of “being blocked” …

Wu Zewen calmly blocked a certain person and continued to do his mission.

Liu Chuan was blocked and since he could not send any message, he reluctantly turned to his other apprentice on QQ.

[yimapingchuan*]: Apprentice, are you doing something?

* flat land one could gallop straight across (idiom)

Liu Chuan’s character in the first district was named “Haina Baichuan*”. His father named him ‘Chuan’ because he hoped for him to become an unprejudiced man as accepting as all rivers**. His ID’s on both QQ and WeChat is yimapingchuan.

* All rivers run into the sea (idiom) – similar to all roads lead to Rome: use different means to obtain the same result; previously TL-ed as Hundred River Flows Into the Sea

** same character with Haina Baichuan

After he received his master’s message, he immediately opened his QQ and replied: “What’s the matter, master?”

Liu Chuan smiled and asked, “There are a lot of people in the new district, right? Are you still doing sect missions?”

Li Xiang said: “Yes! I just reached Level 18. I plan to finish the Shaolin main plotline and continue to Chengdu to level up.”

Liu Chuan proposed: “The new district is too slow for leveling tasks, and it is difficult to grab monsters when there are too many people. I know a hidden place. As soon as you reach Level 25, you can take your friends there to brush* some monsters.”

* in this context it means hunt

Li Xiang immediately sent a drooling expression: “Is there really such a place?”

Liu Chuan said: "Yeah. In the eastern suburbs of Chengdu, there is a bandit village in the innermost part of the mountain. The bandit captain there is a three-star elite monster and the experience points in killing one are very high.”

The monsters in the game were star-rated. Naturally, three-star monsters were very difficult to kill but the experience points gained are high.

Li Xiang quickly understood: “Got it! When I reach Level 25, I’ll form a team to fight. Thank you, Master!”

Liu Chuan sent a smiling expression: “Don’t mention it.”

***

Wu Zewen finally managed to grab a Gu beast after getting rid of the distraction. Seeing that it was about to escape, he immediately activated the Miao’s poisonous art to seal the beast until only a drop of blood is left and formed a blood contract.

When the contract succeeded, four new icons were added to the skill bar simultaneously: Gu Toad Summoning, Gu Toad Sacrifice, Guide Toad, and Guardian.

Each pet of the Five Poisons can spontaneously explode, that is, pet sacrifice. When an owner sacrifices a pet, it brings out many advantages for the player. For example, if the Gu Toad was sacrificed, a 400% defense boost for 8 seconds would be given to the owner.

Each pet comes with two active skills. The active skills for the Gu Toad are Guide Toad: produces an angry roar to pull hatred* of 6 targets then the Guardian would immediately rush to protect the master for 6 seconds.

* getting aggro/pulling the aggro: player who generates the most hate on a mob will be preferentially attacked by that mob

In short, this toad that looks majestic and half of the height of its owner was the Five Poisons’ ultimate bodyguard. It has a thick skin that’s capable of enduring a strike and helps its owner absorb hatred and resist damage. In times of calamity, it was the Five Poisons’ most reliable protective talisman.

With this thick-skinned bodyguard by his side, the process of fighting monsters suddenly became a lot easier!

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Wu Zewen finally cleared the tasks of the Five Poisons Sect, and he finally reached Level 25.

Starting from Level 25, players can learn to ride a pony or start vendetta mode to those they find unpleasant to the eye. At the same time, they can finally enter the main city in the game.

—Chengdu, located in Ba shu*, one of the six main cities of the game, can be entered at Level 25.

* Sichuan; originally two provinces of Qin and Han (Wulin uses real provinces/places for the settings of the game)

There are four suburbs in the main city: east, west, south, and north and the tasks are levels 25-30.

Level 25 is regarded as the dividing line in the novice stage. Starting from Level 25, the leveling speed will become slower and slower.

When Wu Zewen reached Level 25, he went to Chengdu to hand over the task and learn how to ride. The system gave him a low-level little yellow horse. Although it looked a bit ugly, he could move a lot faster. Originally, he wanted to continue with the main city mission but Li Xiang suddenly chatted to him privately: “Zewen, don’t do the mission. Come form a team and wait for me at the East Gate of Chengdu! Let’s go brush some monsters!”

Then, a team invitation came.

Wu Zewen agreed to the invitation and rode a small yellow horse to the East Gate of Chengdu to meet Li Xiang.

Li Xiang took him along a path in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu to the mountain and explained to him as he walked: “My master just told me that there is a secret bandit village on the top of the mountain in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu. There is a three-star elite bandit captain. There are a lot of experience points for killing one. The leveling speed is faster if we hunt the bandit captain instead of doing the tasks.”

“OK.” Wu Zewen nodded in agreement.

The two climbed all the way to the top of the mountain. As soon as they arrive, they heard the sound of fighting from the inside. When they approached, they saw a Tangmen player dressed in deep blue robes in the middle of fighting with the bandit captain and his henchmen. The Tangmen ran quickly, evading the mob’s attack with a nimble skill yet his blood was constantly dropping and he looked like he was about to die.

Li Xiang, who moved before he could even think, immediately rushed in to save him without saying anything further.

—Buddha’s Light!

Shaolin Buddha School skill: throw the beads forward, inflict all the aggro of your enemies into the trajectory of the prayer beads and force the enemy to attack itself for 5 seconds.

The Buddha beads that were thrown out by the Shaolin’s hand returned to his hand like a boomerang. There was a dazzling golden light following its path, blinding the mobs and at the same time transferring all their hatred to Li Xiang!

[nearby] [Immortal]: ……….

You bastard! What are you doing, robbing my monster?!

Liu Chuan was really speechless.

Li Xiang thought the long ellipses of the Tangmen was because the Tangmen was very moved by his actions so excitedly, that he pulled the group of monsters in the opposite direction, even going as far as waving the beads in his hand vigorously.

Shaolin’s skills had a dazzling golden light effect that attracted all the mobs, who were once chasing the Tangmen, to Li Xiang. The damage of the mob isn’t high but the damage of more than a dozen mobs combined was terrifying. Not to mention, even the bandit captain, who was just refreshed, also followed him behind.

“Shit! Shit! Why are there so many?!”

Li Xiang operated his Shaolin to dodge left and right and dragged more than a dozen mobs behind him to drive the train together*. It was nothing short of being spectacular! The entire bandit village was in a tremendous muddle behind his back!

* They look like a train because of how many mobs are following Li Xiang LOL

Seeing how fast Li Xiang’s blood was declining, Wu Zewen couldn’t help but aid him, summoning a few Gu Toad. Six mobs ran over to besiege the Five Poisons’ Gu Toad. Even if the toad was thick-skinned, it was still low-level after all. It couldn’t stand six mobs joining forces and soon the Gu Toad became a tragedy. Regardless of its owner, it turned over and lay flat on the ground.

Wu Zewen, who attracted the hatred for Li Xiang, suddenly became the next target of the mobs.…

So, Shaolin, who rushed to save (harm) people hot-blooded, and the Five Poisons, who couldn’t assess the situation and ran over to help (who became more of a hindrance than a help) were brutally killed by more than a dozen mobs and the bandit captain…

What about the Tangmen?

The Tangmen looked at them silently.

It wasn’t until the both of them were completely dead that the Tangmen typed on the nearby channel. “When pulling mobs, you can still die like this. Are you* here to act cute?”

* plural you

“…….”

Li Xiang blushed at the remark. Ahem, I just started playing Shaolin, I’m a little rusty, alright?

Wu Zewen was very confused… Why does this Immortal feel very familiar? By the way, it seemed that this was the same Tangmen who did the task in Southern Xinjiang and immediately ran away after completing his task, ignoring him…

Liu Chuan glanced at their corpses, turned around, and flew directly into the crowd of monsters with a beautiful show of his light work skill. He dragged a bunch of mobs and the newly refreshed bandit captain around.

The two people who died on the ground watched as the Tangmen pulled the elite captain and a group of mobs under a tree, used his light work skill to fly up the three and block the mob’s perspective, and began to throw his concealed weapons leisurely.

Tangmen Poison Dart… Tangmen Poison Dart… Tangmen Poison Dart…

The Tangmen’s Poison Dart kept on falling down the trees as if it was raining flowers all over the sky. One by one the weapons hit the mobs accurately on the head, they screamed and fell down to the ground.

It wasn't until the little monsters under the tree were all dead that Tangmen easily jumped down from the tree and began to brush the next round in the same way.

It turned out that he was more than capable of dealing with these monsters all by himself and didn’t need anyone to save him…

When passing the Shaolin corpse, Tangmen left behind a sentence: “Great master, still unable to get up?”

“……”

* gē men not gege lol it’s a diminutive form of address between males

Liu Chuan couldn’t help laughing: “Oh! I was waiting for your words.”

In order to save you, a second-class apprentice, your master made a side account and personally came to the new district to take you. On one hand, I had to operate a trick to come in contact with you while also fooling you in QQ. I’m really exhausted!